The right way to legalize pot: Cuomo and the Legislature must learn from errors in Colorado and elsewhere

By Diane Savino

Dec 21, 2018 | 5:00 AM

Find the proper balance. (iStock)

Monday, Gov. Cuomo made something crystal clear: He's going to push for New York to legalize marijuana in the first 100 days of his third term.

I fully support that effort, but to get legalization right, we should learn from the 10 states that have done so already, and protect the 80,000 patients who rely on our state's existing medical cannabis program.

Under existing state regulations, New York has among the fewest dispensaries per capita in the country. As a result, patients in small towns across central, upstate and western New York are forced to drive two hours just to pick up their prescription. Given the chronic pain, post-traumatic stress and other illnesses facing these patients, they should be able to access their dispensary as easily as any neighborhood pharmacy.

Second, we need to lower patient costs for medical cannabis. Currently, patients can obtain prescription sprays, oils and capsules. These standardized, precision formulations are great options for many patients, but their relative high cost means that patients pay excessively more for prescription marijuana than they would for a bottle of prescription opioids.

We can — and should — change that by allowing patients to purchase lower cost, medically tested, cannabis flower products.

Third, we should allow medical dispensaries to co-locate with adult-use dispensaries. Doing so would allow New York to leverage its proven, functioning medical cannabis infrastructure, and swiftly implement a well-regulated adult-use program. Co-location would lower costs for patients and customers, since the average cost of serving each customer decreases as the overall number of customers increase.

Fourth, we should impose smart growth limits on marijuana production so that New York does not become an inadvertent supplier of black-market, cartel-managed marijuana, which has stricken states like Colorado and Oregon.

In Colorado, growers exploited lax growth laws to create what Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper described as a "Wild West," for marijuana diversion to the black market, until a recent, and dramatic, change in course. In Oregon, loose growth rules led to 74% of growers ignoring state compliance standards and, as a state commission found, a failure by the state to adequately curb diversion of marijuana to drug dealers.

Finally, New York should phase in adult-use recreational cannabis in a responsible way to ensure that existing facilities can expand to accommodate increased demand, new market entrants can source capital and organize strong license applications, and regulators can ramp-up compliance programs to prevent criminal diversion.

By adopting this framework, New York can improve patient access to life-changing medical cannabis, while continuing on the rightful and ethical course to legalizing adult-use. Further, New Yorkers will be able to know that dispensaries are professionally run, products are safe and high-quality, and that customer purchases are supporting a thriving, legal market.

Almost every day we learn about a new government program — from education to the subway system — that policymakers want marijuana revenue to help fund. If we want a robust and reliable revenue stream, we need a successful, properly managed program.

The stakes are high: We doubt that the current administration in Washington is likely to tolerate anything but a tightly run program. Fortunately, Cuomo has shown real leadership in moving New York's marijuana debate to this point. If we do this right, New York can become our country's newest leader in cannabis policy.

Savino represents Staten Island in the state Senate. She was the prime Senate sponsor of New York's medical cannabis law.